Girls, Join Us Tonight At 8PM, As "Svengoolie" Presents "Curse Of The Demon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

                           This should be a treat, darlings.  Directed by Jacques Tourneur, who did Val Lewton's "Cat People" (1942) and the brilliant "I Walked With A Zombie" (1943), this is an adaptation of a little known horror story by M.R. James called "Casting The Runes," first published in 1911.  I have never read the story, but would like to.

                               Dana Andrews plays a paranormal investigator who arrives in London, only to find Satanic cult activities afoot.  That is as much as I know.  Except that in England it was released under the title "Night Of The Demon."   The 1957 film, in America, became "Curse Of The Demon."

                                 The film is heavy on black and white visuals and atmosphere.  Things are seen walking afoot, something like in Stephen King's "Children Of The Corn," only not executed as crudely.

                                    The James story relies on atmosphere, not monsters, and Tourneur planned the film that way.  But the distributors. Sabre Film Productions decided a monster had to be shown.  Tourneur wanted to leave it all to audience's imagination, which would have been better.  So, the cute thing pictured above was a bone thrown to the distributors and does not appear until the end of the film.

                                     Poor Dana Andrews.  After appearing in A-list films like "Laura" (1944) and "The Best Years Of Our Lives" (1946) he began a slow decline, starting with this film (the best of his lower lot) and culminating in crap like 1965's "Crack In The World."

                                      See you tonight at 8, darlings!  Hope this does not crack you up!